Hellfire goodness

04-06-2013, 10:07 PM

Have not posted in a while as I have been super busy with work and kids and life. Got a great surf in tonight on my 6'2" HF! I cannot believe how good this board is as it makes me such a better surfer than I really am from cutbacks to wave hacks to off the tops incredible. Took off on one wave in particular that was well overhead and I had a late drop so I air dropped down the face of the wave and made the section and put a huge turn off the top for my first turn. The wave help up all the way to the inside and it was just an insane wave that gave me so much pleasure, thanks FIREWIRE!!

I do have one question my HF is 6'2 and I have an Alternator that is 6'4, but I think that my HF paddles better and has 1 liter less foam? Is this possible because of how wide it is?

I hope everyone is having a great year and I wish I could jump on the Vangaurd wagon as it looks like a lot of people are having some serious fun on those boards.

Have not posted in a while as I have been super busy with work and kids and life. Got a great surf in tonight on my 6'2" HF! I cannot believe how good this board is as it makes me such a better surfer than I really am from cutbacks to wave hacks to off the tops incredible. Took off on one wave in particular that was well overhead and I had a late drop so I air dropped down the face of the wave and made the section and put a huge turn off the top for my first turn. The wave help up all the way to the inside and it was just an insane wave that gave me so much pleasure, thanks FIREWIRE!!

I do have one question my HF is 6'2 and I have an Alternator that is 6'4, but I think that my HF paddles better and has 1 liter less foam? Is this possible because of how wide it is?

I hope everyone is having a great year and I wish I could jump on the Vangaurd wagon as it looks like a lot of people are having some serious fun on those boards.

My Futura was 35.4 litres but my Mini Driver is 33.9 and paddles a lot better so yep it's possible!

Ive been spending a huge amount of time thinking about and obsessing over volume over the last year. Having tested out and bought several different boards based on a notion of a perfect volume. As a result I have bought the wrong boards on several occasions. I have come to the conclusion that it really depends where the foam is distributed so extra width, volume or a flatter rocker under the chest can all help with paddling. But more than anything else I am looking to surface area more than volume these days. This may be very obvious to some of the more experienced surfers on the forum but I thought I would share some of my recent experiences with a number of firewire models.

My 510 Dom at 33.5l paddles better than my 64 Alt at 44.7l because of the extra volume and width under the chest and the flatter rocker in the middle of the board. Similarly a 60 sub scorcher i tried the other day at 32.5l paddles as well as the Dom for the same reason and as well as my 62 stealth at 33.8l.

I also tested a 510 unibrow (30.5l), which has over 4l less than my alt but paddled nearly as well because it has a lot of hidden foam under the chest.

Interesting, as I used to have a 6'2 DOM and then I sold it thinking I would drop down to the 6'0'. I bought the 6'0" sold my 6'2" and it was totally different and was not for the better. I am 6'3" so I really need length. If the board is too small then it just does not work for me. I also had a 5'6" SP and that was fun but my long legs stuck out the back and it was fun but I prefer the ADVance for a small wave board, again the length issue.

Here is my next question, is having a 6'2" HF and a 6'4" Alt too much of the same board? The Alt sits in the picket so nice, as I surfed 3-4 foot barrels today and it went so well late take offs and everything. I did not fall once and never got pearled not matter how late I took off. Surfed the HF and it seemed like I could turn a little easier as I have it set up as a quad and I tend to like those better. Just thinking about selling my Alt.

Comment

I have the Unibrow and the Q5 which to all intents and purposes is much the same as the difference between the Hellfire and the Alternator.

(I love the Alternator which I also own but in a slightly too long length so it's in storage at the moment)!

I reckon while a UB and Q5 (or Alt) are close in performance, there are important differences. The Alt (Q5) has a bigger performance window in terms of increasing wave size, and as a more refined board simply performs more performance turns. At least for me once the wave has power the Q5 and Alt will simply perform more dynamic turns than the UB. But the UB is simply a better bet for average conditions where a Q5 or Alt won't be quite up to the speed it needs to perform optimally. If I was fitter, younger and surfing more often then sure, I'd probably get the Alt/Q5 working in more marginal conditions but that's not my reality.

we are on the right track here..... another example is that my 5'10 HF (yes i'm banging on about it again..!!!) out paddles the 5'4 SP... even with width, volume and flat rocker, the SP at my height and weight pushes water at the stubby nose when paddling.... heavier rocker would actually introduce the forward outline to the water more efficiently when paddling....but when riding small waves it doesn't matter.... you dont need a fast paddler..just a fast guy paddling... :)

Interesting, I seem to paddle the HF just fine even at a meager 6'2". It seems strange to me as I am 6'3" and feel I need a bigger board for my needs. Thanks for the encouragement as I sold my SP as i prefer the Advance for small waves or the Spirtfire at 6'2".